Edna clutched the torn hem of her dress, her shoulders trembling with the fragile helplessness of someone who'd suffered the world's greatest injustice.
The sight stung my brother's eyes.
His grip on my throat tightened savagely.
"Anna, you're asking to die!"
Darkness rushed in like a tide, but I didn't struggle.
I almost felt relieved.
Just when I thought I would die right there, my brother released me without warning.
My forehead cracked against the edge of the coffee table. Blood seeped out in a warm, steady stream.
Mom rushed to Edna's side, fussing over her.
She didn't spare me a single glance.
"It was supposed to be a nice birthday. Why did it turn into this? Why did you invite her in the first place!"
Her voice dripped with resentment.
My brother draped his suit jacket over Edna's shoulders and looked at me with undisguised revulsion.
"Anna, you truly disgust me this time."
"Someone get her out of here. She is never to set foot in this house again!"
I was dragged out of the Maddox estate in a daze.
With trembling fingers, I wired five thousand dollars to the cemetery manager.
Then I sent the last five hundred and eighty-six dollars I had left.
A week ago, I'd stopped buying painkillers altogether, saving every cent so someone could collect my body.
When it was done, I used the last of my strength to climb onto the Southbridge railing.
I closed my eyes. Cold wind screamed past my ears.
This time I didn't fight it. I let myself fall into the river.
News that someone had jumped from Southbridge dominated the headlines almost immediately.
By the time it reached the Maddox estate, one of the guests was already laughing.
"Logan, don't tell me your sister's gotten addicted to jumping off things. Think she'll go for a third round? Are we taking bets again?"
My brother laughed, careless and unbothered.
"Anna's terrified of water. There's no way she'd actually jump again. She's probably racking her brain right now, figuring out how to beg us to let her back in."
"Why is everyone standing around? It's Edna's birthday. Everyone whose name was called, get up and do the group dance!"
Just then, a servant rushed in, pale-faced and shaking.
